Chapter 2: A Noble’s Son

Reborn in a new guise, Zhang Yue leaned against the bed, reluctantly staring at the bowl of medicine placed before him. It wasn’t the extremely bitter taste that worried him, but rather the fear that some strange ingredients might have been added. Yet, upon seeing his mother, Lady Sun’s concerned gaze, he forced himself to drink the entire bowl in one gulp.

Seeing her son finish the medicine, Lady Sun breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly took a piece of candied fruit from a small dish beside her and put it in her son’s mouth. Then she pressed him back down onto the bed and pulled the brocade blanket over him. After sitting by the bed for a while and seeing that Zhang Yue seemed to have fallen asleep, she stood up and instructed a maid standing nearby, “Qiuhen, keep a close eye on Yue. Report to me immediately if anything happens.”

Yet Zhang Yue in bed was not asleep. Having gone through such a drastic change, his mind was filled with various questions, leaving no room for sleep. After pondering with closed eyes for a long time, he felt a dull headache. Knowing his mother was not around, he simply opened his eyes.

As the saying goes, it’s hard to tell whether one is dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being human. Lying in bed from yesterday to today, he gradually regained all his memories of this era. Now, Fang Jie and Zhang Yue, two originally distinct people, had merged completely within him. However, for certain details, he couldn’t rely on a child’s memory—he would need to inquire from others.

Glancing around, he saw the maid sitting on a small stool by the bed—her face was the same one he had seen when he first woke up. She was about fourteen or fifteen years old. Though not exceptionally beautiful, she was delicate and charming. At that moment, she was concentrating on embroidery, her fingers skillfully moving the needle, unaware that he had woken up.

“Qiuhen.”

Qiuhen finally snapped out of her thoughts. Seeing him in bed, she panicked immediately. She tossed her embroidery aside, reached out to gently touch Zhang Yue’s forehead, then pulled her hand back and carefully examined his expression before asking, “Why did you wake up so soon, young master? Are you feeling unwell? If so, I’ll go call your mother right away.”

“I’m fine now.”

Seeing Qiuhen’s skeptical expression, Zhang Yue felt a headache coming on. After a brief pause, he acted poutily like a child and said, “I just don’t want to sleep anymore. I want to talk to someone. Is that not allowed?”

Qiu Hen immediately felt a bit embarrassed. Thinking that Zhang Yue had been in a coma for the past few days, it was quite likely he couldn’t sleep now, so she kindly nodded. Dropping the pine-colored handkerchief in her hand, she reached out to prop up Zhang Yue’s pillow and helped him sit up. Only then did she ask, “What does the young master want to say?”
“I’m asking you, what events have taken place in the family these past few days?”
Such a question would be useless with a quiet person, but Qiu Hen was born and raised in this family; her parents and relatives all lived here, and she was naturally talkative. She assumed Zhang Yue was just bored. Considering he was young and his mother wasn’t strict with him, she thought it wouldn’t matter if he talked casually, so she smiled and recounted a few trivial matters from the family.
She spoke casually, but Zhang Yue listened attentively, carefully listening while subtly probing further. He also couldn’t help but praise Qiu Hen in a childlike manner, taking advantage of her pride to extract more details. By the time Qiu Hen coaxed him back to lying down, combined with the memories he had gathered, a rough outline had formed in his mind.
It was now the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty. Of this era, what he knew best were the earth-shattering Jingnan Campaign and the bloody massacres that followed, as well as Zheng He’s seven voyages to the Western Seas. Yet while Zheng He’s fleet was still sailing across the oceans, everything else had already become history.
This was the Zhang family of Xiangfu. There were three generations in total. At the top was the old lady, Lady Gu. The next generation consisted of three sons. The eldest, Zhang Xin, was the legitimate son; the whole family followed him to serve as officials in Zhejiang, and he had one son and one daughter. The second son, Zhang You, was an illegitimate child but held a military position and was currently with the army in Jiaozhi. His wife, Lady Dongfang, gave birth to two sons, while his concubine, Lady Luo, had a daughter. Since Lady Dongfang was good at flattering her mother-in-law, Lady Gu, she almost entirely controlled household affairs.
The third son, Zhang Zhuo, who was also illegitimate, had a low-key personality and was neither good at literature nor martial arts. He was practically invisible in the family, and his wife, Lady Sun, lacked any skills and never sought to compete with others. Their only son, Zhang Yue, was weak and sickly as a child. Although his health improved as he grew older, he remained somewhat absent-minded. Thus, compared to the dominant first branch and the shrewd second branch, the third branch had little say in the family.

Zhang Yue carefully analyzed these trivial family matters before letting out a deep sigh inwardly. In his past life, he had been a hardworking worker; now that he had been reborn into a wealthy family, he was still just an outsider—what terrible luck. And at just ten years old, he had to pretend to be a child for a long time. The road ahead was indeed long and arduous.

Yet when Qiu Hen boasted that he had an uncle who held a high position in the capital, Zhang Yue was deeply shaken. It was Duke Zhang Fu of Yingguo!

Although he only had a superficial understanding of Ming Dynasty history, he knew that Zhu Yuanzhang had killed many meritorious officials, leaving their descendants with mere titles without real power. But the heroes who helped quell the rebellion were different—Zhang Yu and his son Zhang Fu were even more exceptional. Though Zhang Yu died in the rebellion, Zhang Fu not only survived but also achieved great feats, rising from earl to duke. Yet such a prominent figure still had to address Lady Gu as “auntie”!

After lying down again, it took him a long time to process this information. Judging by the situation of this family, if he stayed out of trouble, life wouldn’t be too bad. But did he have to live in constant caution for the rest of his life? Since he had been reborn, wasting this second chance would seem like a sin.

Perhaps because of his transformation after rebirth, Zhang Yue’s injuries gradually healed over time. Lady Sun was overjoyed and spared no expense on medicine, while his grandmother Lady Gu sent someone to invite a famous doctor from Kaifeng Prefecture. After more than a month of care, Zhang Yue finally fully recovered. Everyone in the family was overjoyed, except for him, who was troubled by the frail figure he saw in the mirror.

It seemed that his top priority now was to build up his strength. With such a frail body that seemed ready to be blown away by the wind, he couldn’t do much at all. But these were things to consider later. Right after looking in the mirror, Zhang Yue asked his mother Lady Sun to take him to see his grandmother Lady Gu.

Lady Sun hesitated. “You’ve just recovered. Rest for a few more days. It’s not too late to pay respects to the old lady later.”

“Mother, if it weren’t for grandmother sending for a famous doctor, I wouldn’t have recovered so quickly. Since the doctor says I’m fine, I should go see her.” Seeing Lady Sun wavering, Zhang Yue took her hand and pleaded softly, “Mother, I’m also part of the Zhang family. You don’t want people to keep treating me like a sickling, right?”

Though still harboring a hint of resentment, upon hearing these words, Mrs. Sun immediately realized her mistake. Remembering how she had caused a scene in her mother-in-law’s yard due to her son’s illness, and also recalling her mother-in-law’s stern warning, her face gradually turned pale. Almost instinctively, she knelt down, placed her hand on her son’s shoulder, and nodded firmly.
“Okay, I’ll take you to see the old lady right now!”